Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Have a great PA opener....

Guys around here would quit their jobs before they would miss opening day for work.

I'll be in 3C up near lenox. But i stepped on a nail today so my foots not too happy. Hopefully it won't slow me down to much.

Good luck tomorrow folks......I won't sleep worth a $[bleep] tonight, and I'm not even there!

Jeff

I haven't had the opportunity to hunt PA in the past 13 years. The camp will be empty this year. My best friend had neck surgery so no shooting for a while, so he's out, his one brother moved to FL so he's out and his other brother was never really interested in hunting that much, and his dad is on the mend from recent surgery, so he's out. It's a sad state of affairs. In the late 80's and 90's it was nothing for all 5 of us to tag out, now nobody seems to want to even go! With all of that I still miss it terribly!

Well, the fam got skunked today; lot's of does and sub legal bucks. How'd the rest of you guys do?

Jeff

Quietest opening day I've heard in 28 years of hunting South Central PA!

Saw five doe yesterday. Had one within 50 yards for probably 45 minutes. I was getting tired of being on pins and needles, wanted to move my legs a bit, and was just hoping she'd go away eventually!

Had another doe right at dusk stand up and start feeding 60 yards away. It's so thick around my stand that she couldn't even walk through some of it. The property was timbered about five years ago, and between the tops laying around and the new thick brushfilling in, it's a nasty little place, that holds deer, especially after the shooting starts. She'd reach out for a bite, then have to literally back up to move a different way. I was watching her with binos till I finally lost her in the dark. Waited till plenty dark before climbing down and sneaking away.

Probably the highlight of the day though was about 8 in the morning. The rain had just quit, and the woods were coming alive with everything that had been holed up in the wet weather. Birds starting flitting through the trees all around me. A wren started hopping branch to branch in a nearby tree. it flew over to my tree, then landed on the step two steps down from where I was standing. It sat there cocking it's head back and forth, checking out that orange thing standing in the tree above it, wondering what I was I guess. After a minute or two, it moved on. Sure was cool to watch him that close up!

FWIW, there was a fair it of shooting in Mercer County where I was. However, my dad and two friends elected to go to the property my wife & I own over in Clarion County. They heard three shots all day.....

I personally had no luck, and didn't see a deer. I could only hunt til 10am, then had to leave. Jumped something on the way out. Heard a lot of shooting, over 30 shots by 9:30am. Was amazed with the amount of people. We've been hunting this area since archery started and never saw a vehicle. Yesterday morning there were close 20 vehicles.

Guy in the hollow a few hundred yards from me shot a nice 9 point.
Here's the buck, with my pard's cousin 'Tater' pictured.

Me and the post-op knees didn't go out, went to PT instead. I talked with my Dad, he said it was raining so hard that he didn't even go out until 9 AM. He saw 4 does but didn't shoot at them. A buddy of mine was hunting the farm too, he saw 6 deer and 3 of them were bucks but no shots. Dad said he thought the shooting was light, I wonder if everybody had gone home to dry off by the time he went out.

Good luck to all,

Dale

Dad was a carpenter by trade. Any carpenters that were still working this late in the fall were doing pretty good. Deer opener was coming up, and the foreman on his job told him not to plan on going hunting. Dad told him not to plan on seeing him. A man's got to have priorities.......

I well remember the trips up to camp in Clearfield County before Interstate 80 went through. The little towns were all either on the tops of the mountains or in the bottom of the valleys. Every town would be a beehive of activity as the hunters headed for their camps. Unfortunately the days of yore have changed, but there's still something uniquely special about the Pa. deer opener. Those of us who are lucky enough to partake know there's nothing like it anywhere else. We truly are the lucky ones.

Slow day for me...ended up hunting near McDonald ....didn't see a deer till right at dark and busted the 8pt I was waiting for as I exited he remained low on the hill I was hunting just below a roll in the contour of the hill....kind of thought that might happen but the wind was bad for me to sit where I wanted to at the bottom,jumped him 50yds from where I was sitting till the wind got wonky on me and forced a move up....buddy sat across the road from me saw 32 deer,all doe and a 4pt

I had the worst first day I have ever had in 25 yrs - shoulda stood in bed!!!

Going to give it hell on Saturday.

after 55 years hunting the first week of deer season, my hunting buddy and I are going to snowshoe for the second week. don't know why, just decided to do something different.

took my boy who was 11. It rained, was cold and the wind blew hard. I was proud, he stayed all day. Saw a good buck at 2pm and he couldn't get it in the scope. Only deer we saw and it seems about the same as the others in the area saw.

Hunted all day Monday and till 12:00 on Tuesday in Tioga. Killed a doe at 7:30am, the first doe I ever killed on an opening day. Glad I did. No other action to speak of. My partner killed a half racked 8pt and a doe. I guess we did ok compared to many others. Some VERY discouraged hunters from what I have heard.

I don't like AR and the doe tag "free for all" but I understand the states position. I enjoy seeing lots of deer and shooting a spiker more than seeing a couple deer and getting a crack at a bigger buck. I NEED ACTION!

After many years of hunting Armstrong Co. made a return trip to the Kane area for the first time in a few years. Things have changed.

The doe reduction which hunters have willingly participated in many years was in actuality a massacre. No doubt the herd needed reduced, but a war on whitetails is a little extreme. Talked to somewhere between 10 to 15 hunters who saw no deer in the 2 days I was there. I was one of them and I was in the woods the entire day for those two days and probably covered close to 15mi in those two days roaming. The second day most people had gone or stayed home in frustration.

Lots of good cover these days with the clear cutting that has been going on under the previous administration. Ruffed Grouse numbers are definitely on the rise because of it. From some of the rubs I saw, there are some great Bucks running those mountains, but you better be willing to get into the nastiest cover to get a chance at them after they have been pressured some. If you know your stuff you can get a true trophy, if not you best abide by the two rules of Pa. Whitetail hunting. 1: Get lucky. 2: DFU.

My Bud saw two Bucks. Missed one, and left the other go because it was small, even though it was legal.

Talked to a couple Kane locals who were intelligent and seemed to know what was going on in the Allegheny National Forest re: clear cutting and natural gas. The new people in Washington are essentially putting an end to both. According to them the ANF is the only NF in which the government doesn't own the mineral rights. However, the current administration is essentially putting and end to drilling for natural gas by not allowing any trees to be cut in the forest. Drilling a gas well does no harm to the forest, creates edge cover for wildlife and benefits our energy production, yet it is being shut down. You can own the mineral rights, but still are not allowed to drill.

For those who cast their vote for politicians who have absolutely no concern for those of us who hunt, something to think about.

If any of this is fact some conservation reporter needs to do a report on what is going on.

The second war is the States war on beech trees which are a Whitetail food source. They are being cut down in great quantities-you still can't drill for gas-because they have no economic value other than wildlife food. The State wants cherry trees which do have a dollar value, but benefit wildlife little in the long run.

Even though the cover is excellent in many areas and capable of carrying many more deer, the Game Commission with their war on Whitetails-along with the cooperation of many hunters willing to shoot a doe, just to say they got a deer-is ruining the Pa. deer hunting tradition in many parts of our Northern tier. It has essentially devastated a local economy that has a considerable part of its foundation based on hunting dollars.

The Game Commission is also in bed with the insurance companies to reduce the number of deer/auto incidents.

Back at you later, going hunting.

Addition: One of the joys of those who have the hunters heart is roaming the big woods of Pa. for Whitetails. I've missed it, by hunting our smaller private woods for the last 15 or so years. I didn't realize how much. I will go back.

gotta send the pics my buddy sent from clarion county to my email, then do the thing and post some bad pics, but they are 6 for 6 right now.
2 8 points, one a 150 class, a 7 point, and the 12 y/o daughter shot a spike.

they're seeing lots of deer, some bucks, but having a great time as usual.

damn, i miss hunting at home in pa.

next year i'm going for sure.

Here are a couple nice PA bucks that I pulled from another site. Thinking I wouldn't mind seeing any of them in the woods...

Does, does, does, little bucks then more does, does, does. Turning into an interesting and fun season.